Passage II

A Tribute to Teococuilco

When artist Alejandro Santiago returned to his hometown of Teococuilco de Marcos Perez, Mexico, in 2000 after having been absent in France for several years, many of the familiar faces he remembered were nowhere to be seen. More than half the town’s residents had left the area, primarily to seek work.

[1] Dismayed by the loss, felt both personal and cultural, Santiago responded through his art. [2] Within the year, he established as his mission a project to symbolically repopulate Teococuilco. [3] His plan was to create human figures in clay—2,500 of them—each one unique, each one a tribute, nor an exact portrait in the traditional sense. [4] He would create one more to represent himself and in that way show his ties to those who had left and others had returned. [5] First Santiago built a workshop. [6] Then he hired local residents and taught them how to shape, glaze, and finally fire the figures in the kiln he had installed. [7] From start to finish, a single sculpture would take three days to complete. (24)

[1] The artist expected some challenges along the way. [2] He nearly gave up, however, when a heavy rain destroyed three hundred unfired sculptures in one night. [3] The workers’ efforts inspired Santiago to advance to the long-term project. (26)

Six years later, 2501 Migrantes, as the artist titled the work traveled, to Monterrey, Mexico. There it had its first formal exhibition, even then, it was still a work in progress as the artist and his crew continued to add figures to the growing family of “Migrantes.” Both ironically and fittingly, the sculptures have not stayed in one place: they travel in groups to various exhibition spaces. Many, though, as originally planned, are permanent residents of Teococuilco. A successful project to build on, Santiago envisions establishing a bronze foundry in Teococuilco to provide jobs for residents and continuing with them to revitalize their beloved town.